Aural Fixations

THE STREETWALKIN' CHEETAHS
Gainesville
(Triple X)
Maximum Overdrive
(Alive)
The Streetwalkin' Cheetahs have proven themselves to be that rare punk rock band that actually evolves; its members are too ambitious to settle for the same old three-chord raveups and inchoate anger. No better case for this can be made than the quartet's latest slab o' riffage Gainesville. In the first three cuts alone, the Cheetahs stomp merrily through Beatlesque pop ("Good Morning"), thrashing punk ("Strangled By Love") and their own distinctive update on the MC5's high-energy rock & roll ("When God and the Devil Agree"). There's also some soaring pop ("Geek Like Me"), Stonesy rock ("Rock & Roll Fade Away," featuring the first appearance on a Cheetahs record of an acoustic guitar), an epic narrative ("Ward 6"), 70s stoner rock ("Crucified") and lots more power rock ("Born Leader," "One in the Chamber," "December in a Day"). Leader Frank Meyer claims the band wanted to make its Exile on Main Street, and while that may be overstating the case, Gainesville definitely makes the most of the good stuff (hooks, great vocals, guitars out the yin-yang) that makes Cheetahs records such a pleasure.

Contrast Gainesville with Maximum Overdrive, a resequenced reissue of the band's full-length 1997 debut Overdrive. At this point in the group's career it was defined more by its enthusiasm and energy that for its craft, and rude 'n' crude burners like "None of Your Business," "Freak Out Man" and "What's Coming to Me" favor brute force over finesse. "All I Want" and "Peppermint" demonstrate the melodic sense the group would exploit more successfully later on, but mostly Maximum Overdrive just rages on. And while its best tunes would have definitive renderings on the Cheetahs' live album Live on KXLU, this is still a lethal stab of rock & roll. Fans of the original Overdrive will be interested to know that this version collects a handful of the band's contemporaneous singles, including a pair of Radio Birdman covers guest-starring Birdman guitarist Deniz Tek, a take on the Runaways' "Cherry Bomb" featuring Runaways singer Cherrie Currie and the infamous pisstake "Burn Silverlake Burn." Diehards will also get off on an early, bluesy version of "Gettin' Sick" that's quite a contrast to the high velocity monster that appeared on Punk, Rock & Soul, the band's 1999 split CD with the BellRays. Maximum Overdrive is like a finger-painting next to the fully developed portrait of Gainesville, but it's a finger-painting by a prodigy. Michael Toland